How Picking Conditions Affect Grapes & Wine

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Provided By: Brix 33 | Restaurant in New Port Richey FL

Many people don’t know that growing and picking conditions affect the qualities of the grapes and wine. For example, grapes become ripe much quicker in warmer climates (i.e. closer to the equator). Or that many vineyards test chemical components of the grape when determining if it’s ready. Every single factor that you can think of has some effect on the grape.

Certain wines like sparkling wines require grapes that are picked slightly before they reach ripeness, so as to maintain some acidity. There are some qualities that can only be detected by humans however. This is why some vineyards and wineries still use humans to pick grapes as opposed to machines. A machine cannot detect broken skin on a grape, which could be a big risk.

There are actually a certain variety of grapes that can only be handpicked, and they are required for dessert wines among many other types. These ‘botrytis bunches’ are essentially grapes with fungus growing on them. Similar to the fuzzy grey growth you will see on strawberries, this fungus comes in many varieties. This is where growing conditions are important, because dryer climates grow a form of this known as ‘noble rot’. In this case, more liquid leaves the grape and results in a concentrated grape.

This is why it is important for some vineyards to only have human pickers. Without a human’s intuition diseased grapes may get into wine and make people sick. Many people also believe that picking grapes during the nighttime and daytime have different effects on sugar levels. It has also been said that grapes that are picked during a rain have a ‘watery’ taste. All in all, the growing and picking conditions of grapes have a large effect on the quality of grapes and wine you will receive. Read more on this topic and visit Brix 33 fine wines and bistro in New Port Richey FL.

10 More Cool Facts About Wine

Provided By: Brix 33 Restaurant in New Port Richey FL

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10) One of the most expensive bottle of wine thus far was a bottle of 1875 Chateau Margaux that was owned by Thomas Jefferson. The man that owned it dropped it and was paid $225,000 by the insurance company.

9) Another expensive bottle of wine was an 1869 Chateau Lafite Rothschild, which sold for $230,692 at an auction in Hong Kong.

8) California is in fourth place in terms of wine production in the world, led by France, Italy, and Spain.

7) Women are generally better wine-tasters than men because their sense of smell is better than men.

6) A ton of grapes can make about 720 bottles of wine, so one bottle of wine uses about 2.75 pounds of grapes.

5) One study showed that when French music was played in a wine store, more French wine was sold. When German music was played, more German wine was sold.

4) There is a novel you can read called ‘Wine to Water’ by Doc Hendley. It is about his organization in Africa that aims to bring clean drinking water to villages in need. He himself was a raging alcoholic from North Carolina that one day had a wake-up call and moved to Africa.

3) Some stories suggest that toasting was invented as a way to prevent poisoning. The clinking of glasses would splash each wine in to the other cup.

2) Grape juice mix was sold with a warning label during prohibition times. The warning stated that the buy should not take the liquid and place it in a jug for 20 days because it will become alcohol.

1) One of Edgar Allan Poe’s most famous stories is about a wine-tasting event where one man lures a friend into a trap with wine. This is said to be based on an actual event involving Lieutenant Robert Massie back in 1817.

5 Fun Facts About Wine | Brix 33 Fine Wines & Bistro

Wine has a very rich history and has played an important role in the development of culture, trade, and religion. Entire civilizations created gods for wine and it was used to define culture for many. We wanted to share with you a list of our favorite historical facts about wine!

1) The world's oldest bottle of wine was found in Germany in a Roman grave. It dates back to 325 A.D. and it's contents were still preserved inside the bottle. The Romans preserved this bottle by "floating" olive oil on top of the wine.

2) The Neolithic period is credited with being the first time in history that wine was purposefully made. In the Eastern region near Egypt, communities were permanent. This allows the people to have a stable food source and they experimented with food processing. Wine, Beer, and Bread are three things they produced. Read this article to learn more.

3) In 1863 there were grape vines that are native to America planted in the English Botanical Gardens. The vines contained root louse that killed nearly all of the grapevines in Europe! The American plants had developed an immunity to the louse, which is why they survived.

4) United States per-capita consumption of wine is much less than most other countries in the West, but it is on track to become the number one consumer of wine by 2020.

5) Wine has many benefits. It preserves grapes, produces alcohol, provides carbs, prevents sickness, and prevents tooth decay.

The Wine-Making Process | Wine Tasting Events Brix 33

Provided By: Brix 33 in New Port Richey FL

At Brix 33, we proudly serve countless fine wines as well as great food. Many people have asked us about the wine making process, and while we don’t make our own wine, we thought we’d share this info around.

It all begins at the vineyard where grapes are grown. Once a crop is ready to be harvested, the grapes are taken to be prepared for the fermentation process. One interesting thing about the picking process is that picking the grape at a certain time of day will affect its sugar balance. Grapes picked at night are considered to be at their most stable sugar level.

As the grapes are being prepared, there are different steps performed based on the type of wine being made. Red wine utilizes the skin of the grape, where white wine does not. This means that the skin isn’t separated from the wine until after the fermentation process is complete. Hence the color of red wine. If the skin was not included in the fermentation, then it would be white wine.

White wine is crushed before the fermentation process. During the crushing process, it is also pressed to separate the juice from the rest of the grape. This juice is then used to make white wine. When the juice is sitting, the sediment will settle at the bottom of the container and will be siphoned out so the fermentation process can begin.

At this point, yeast is added to the mixture in order for there to fermentation. This is because the yeast will react with the sugar in the juice and form ethanol (alcohol). We could go in to a discussion about different types of yeast, but we’ll save that for another article.

For red wine a problem occurs when the skin/pulp from the wine begins to float to the top of the container. When it is no longer submerged in juice it is vulnerable to drying out and breeding bacteria. The solution to this is to pump the wine a few times a day so that the floating material gets brought back down.

Making wine can be tedious, time consuming, and aggravating because it takes so long. If you don’t have the time it takes to make wine you can always come visit us in New Port Richey FL at Brix 33. Our Hump-Day Special happens every week so come see us next Wednesday!

Why We Decant Fine Wines | Brix 33 Restaurant in New Port Richey FL | http://Brix33.com

Provided By: Brix33

One very important topic in fine wine that is commonly forgotten is the topic of decanting. While it is a term that you have probably heard, there is a good chance that you don’t actually understand the purpose and process behind this. Understanding this will help you understand wine even better, and you can even use this information to impress your friends.

So for starters, what do you think the definition of decanting is? If you said to let to let something sit and breathe (a common misconception), you guessed wrong. The actual definition of decanting is “to gradually pour a liquid from one container into another, especially without disturbing the sediment”. With this in mind, letting wine sit in a decanter is not decanting the wine…pouring the wine in to the decanter is decanting. The primary goal is to remove sediment and particles from the wine.

In order to accomplish this goal, you should begin by placing the bottle upright for at least 24 hours to allow the particles to settle to the bottom. Once this is complete you should remove the stopper/cork and wipe the neck. With a bright light shining in to the bottle (so you can see the sediment), take your bottle and decanter and begin pouring your wine SLOWLY in to the decanter. The goal here is to pour the clean wine in to the decanter and leave the sediment in the bottle once you’re finished.

Lastly, you can choose to let the wine sit and aerate for an amount of time, however this is not required. It takes experience in wine tasting to know which wines to decant and which ones not to decant. Typically the older the wine, the less you let it aerate. This is because you will miss the ‘opening up’ of the wine, which is something you want to experience. Remember this, when you begin pouring wine out of a bottle, you are exposing it to air for the first time since it was bottled. When it comes in contact with the air, it transforms quickly. You will want to experience this for yourself, so come down to Brix33 in New Port Richey FL for our weekly fine wine tastings!

How to Smell Fine Wines | Brix 33 in New Port Richey FL

Provided By: Brix 33

In our last article we briefly described the process of tasting fine wines. The first step is to test the scent of the wine, so we will elaborate on this topic today. The first thing you should be aware of is the difference between a wine’s aroma and its bouquet. This difference is similar to the difference between tone and pitch in terms of music. Tone is a measure of the pitch of a note over time, and you cannot measure tone until you have listened to the note for a certain amount of time.

An aroma is the scent given off by the combination of ingredients in the wine. Aromas are generally only used to describe grape-based wines, however this is not always the case. This term is also generally used to describe young wines that have not yet developed a bouquet.

Once a wine has aged properly and the process has been given the proper amount of time, new scents will begin to blend in with the wine. This depends on how the wine was made. For example if the wine is stored in an oak container, it will begin to develop an oak scent. A bouquet is best thought of as a term used to describe aroma, as well as the scents gained through the aging process.

Before you can be an expert at smelling wine, you must learn how to detect certain aromas to determine the different compounds that make up the wine. For example, a grassy or plant-type scent indicates the presence of Methoxypyrazines in the wine, which tend to be undesirable.

Also if you are able to detect a moldy or wet newspaper scent, then you can infer that the wine was not corked properly and should be avoided. This indicates that the wine is low quality and generally synthetic as well, because if it has a plastic or screw-on cork then those chemicals from the cap will blend in to the wine.

Eventually we will delve even deeper in to this topic so that you can learn what each individual scent truly indicates. Begin learning more about this topic and be sure to check back each week and learn more about understanding fine wines! If you are in the Florida area, come by Brixx 33 for fine wine tastings every Wednesday night in New Port Richey FL.

An Introductory Guide to Fine Wine Tasting | Brix 33

Using these general guidelines will allow you to get started with fine wine tasting, and we encourage you to go out and try as many wines as you can. Don’t forget to follow the guidelines we mention. Start by smelling the wine and focusing all of your attention on this so that your taste buds are prepared to taste it. Then view the label to learn more about the wine’s history. Finally taste the wine and focus on the balance, harmony, and complexity. If you live in Florida and want to attend fine wine tastings, Brix33 offers countless fine wines and fine wine tastings every Wednesday evening. Come by and visit us in New Port Richey Florida.

Before you actually take a sip when you are tasting wine, the first thing you should do is give it a sniff. The scent given off by wines can tell you everything you need to know before you even taste it. There are many reasons for smelling wine before tasting it, but it really comes down to one thing. Try plugging your nose and eating something. Your sense of taste will not function as well if you do not stimulate your senses through smell. While smelling, you should close your eyes and try and focus solely on the smell. When you do this you will see why it is so important. The scent tells you the types of ingredients used in making the wine, how the wine was stored, and any flaws the wine may possess.

As you gain experience with smelling wines and learning about them, your sense of wine-smelling will get more accurate and you will be able to pick up on finer details. This is why it is good to go tastings with experts, because they can explain these details to you and give you better information than you could get on your own. For example, if the wine smells moldy and dank, it probably means the wine was corked using a plastic or screw-top cork, which is not a good thing.

The label on a wine will tell you what the history behind the wine is. Typically you should look for the brand name, the region it was made in, the primary ingredient used (red grapes, peaches, etc), the year, and the alcohol percentage. There will not always be a brand name, but if there is it will let you know who is responsible for producing the wine. The region is where the wine was made in, which give you an idea of the quality. Wines made in places like California or Italy will be higher quality since they are likely created at vineyards with fresh and natural ingredients. The ingredients will explain the type of wine you are drinking and what to expect in terms of flavor. The year the wine was created is very important when you are tasting high-value wines because of the effort that goes in to producing, storing, and maintaining the wine. And finally, the alcohol percentage. This is very important because it tells you how the wine was made. For example, higher percentage wines are generally made from ripe grapes and have more fruit-forward flavors.

Once you understand this, the last step is actually tasting the wine. Begin by taking a sip, and focus on the flavor proportions. Is it too sweet or too sour? This means it is not balanced and is not high-quality. After this you want to see if the wine is harmonious. This means that the ingredients go together well. To understand this, think about pizza sauce. It can have a nice balance between sugar and salt, but that doesn’t mean those go together well. The complexity is also an important factor, and it tells you the amount of effort and quality-work was put in to making the wine. Does the wine have a variety of flavors or a different aftertaste? This is not an accident, and fine wine generally has some level of complexity. Finally you review all of these factors to determine if the wine is a complete wine? This means that it is a balanced, harmonious, and complex wine.

Without understanding the guidelines to fine wine tasting, you will not be able to fully appreciate the various flavors and smells attributed to fine wines. Just like anything else, the more you learn about a topic, the more you can appreciate the pleasures it provides. Fine wine has many quirks that you should focus on when you are tasting it, such as scent, flavor, color, and background information about the wine.